The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-02-19
WHAT HAS BEEN GAINED

The EdmuHds bill which passed the
Senate at the last session of Congress,
was a peculiarly un-republican and
vicious measure. 1t contained many
provisions which should have brought
the blush OF shame to the cheek of every
Senator voting for it. Among the more
outrageous provisions may be mn
toned that which required the Presi-
dent Of the United States to appoint
fourteen trustees of the Mormon
Church, these trustees to have the
management and control of the corpor-
alton, spiritually and materially, and
to report, not to the members Of the
church as to the administration, but to
the Secretary of the Interior.
The bill, ugly and outrageous as it
was, was not vicious enough to suit the
the little coterie of sdyentnrers who are
here solely TO create trouble, and living
IN the hope Of profting from the wreck
which they are seeking to bring. Hav-
ing gotten so much they thought they
could obtain more, and they went to
work wi h chicanery and money to
baml0 u e or bIibe the House into
opening wider the doors to them and
their plunderous desires. The result
was the Tucker bill, presented at the last
session. and passed by the House of
Representatives in January of this
hot ) ,ol-o
est heart, AID the most scoundrelly
conscience could desire. 1t proposed
to reduce the Mormon people to the
condition OF slaves to as infamous a
gang of adventurers as ever formed an
unholy compact to persecute their
fellows. 1t proposed to turn the Terri
tory over 10 clique of irresponsible
characters whose highest ambition was
to afflict and plumber. The people were
to be tied hand and foot, and surren-
dered to the tender mercies of men
who were incapable of mercy, to be
despoiled By men who had been schem-
ing for the authority to plumber.
Among the wicked provisions may be
mentioned the one making the mar
riage relation" between one person of
either sex and more than one of the
other seq, or polygamy or polygamous
association a felony punishable by FIVE
years imprisonment. The enormity of
this provision may be understood
when il is known that there is
no way to dissolve the polyga-
nous marriage relation" contemplated
in the section; after forming the reIa-
ton the man could be kept in the peni-
Tertiary all his life, though he might
never see his wives. Another
scoundrclly provision was that which
proposed to place the church
as a corporation in the hands OF
trustees in whose selection and ap-
pointment the members had no voice.
This meant plumber and oppression on
q srand scale. But the crOwning infamy
was the dislrsnchisement of the people,
and the empowering of the President
and the Governor of the Territory with
the right 10 appoint to all of the three
thousand or more offices of the Terri
tory, thus making an autocrat of man
who had no greater interest in Utah
than he carried about in his grip sack
and whose sojourn here will be gov
.erned entirely by the continuance of his
commission. Nothing more outrageous
in the way of legislation has ever been
attempted and nothing more scoun-
drelly could be devised in republican
government. This bill bearing the name
of Tucker passed the House, as the
other one with Edmunds' name went
through the Senate. These are the
bills devised and legged for BY the rule
or-ruin clique in Utah, and over the
prospe ot the passage of which they
INDUCED il such fendish rejoicing.
No bill has yet become a Law, but we
now know exactly what measure, If any
will 60 into the books. 1t will be the
bill which passed the House on Thurs
day, or none. Le'us look at that mea-
sure, and ses how much of a triumph
tits for the INSCRIPTIONS gang who have
labored so hard and spent so much
money during the past two years TO
induce more drastic legislation against
the people OF Utah. What has been
the ring 5 gain over the laws as they
now exist?
The new bill MAKES the wife wit
ness agaias. her husband in the pros
ecution for b'gamy or unlawful cohabi-
ton. The local courts have long sine.
done this, tn frs, or legal wife, having
for year Or more past, been compelled
to testify against her husband before
the Commissioner, the Grand Jury and
the petit iurg. Hanca- this nrnvisinn